General Mills' quarterly net earnings surged to $541.6 million, or $0.82 per share, from $444.8 million, or $0.67 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, it earned $0.86 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.79 per share.

Its sales surged around 6% to $4.88 billion.

General Mills now projects FY13 earnings of $2.65 to $2.67 per share, versus its earlier view of around $2.65 per share.